In pictures: Joburg's crowded township

Washing hangs outside what used to be a factory: now it is an indoor shack settlement. Noxolo Mathross (left), unemployed with a three-old-son, is among those who live there: "I had no choice," she says.

The combination of wooden partitions inside, the use of paraffin lamps and stoves, and only one exit from the building also present an extreme fire risk.